If you’re considering joining the electrician career path, you may wonder whether you have what it takes to become a successful electrician.

There are different requirements for becoming an electrician, which includes at least 144 hours of formal training and around 2,000 hours of apprenticeship rendered under an approved apprenticeship program. These formal requirements are designed to prepare an electrician for every aspect of electrical work, from reading blueprints to code standards under the NEC, and actual hands-on electrical work under the supervision of a master electrician. All in all, it is comprehensive training geared to preparing an aspiring electrician for the work ahead of him, and it does so by helping him develop some necessary skills:

Problem-solving skills

Many times, an electrician’s work will consist of identifying the cause of an electrical issue and then resolving it. Starting from something as seemingly innocuous as flickering lights, for instance, an electrician needs to be able to trace the problem back to its source. Even the seemingly simple electrical issues may be a symptom of larger electrical issues that need to be addressed as quickly as possible.

Mechanical skills

All electricians are required to have some manual dexterity and mechanical aptitude, whether it be installing a simple socket, repairing faulty wiring, or replacing defective circuit breakers.

Mathematical aptitude

An electrician’s work often requires mathematical computations, such as determining the type of electrical installations needed to support specific wattage of electrical equipment. There would also be computations to figure out weight measurements such as in the installation of heavy wall or ceiling fixtures such as lights or fans, as well as measurements of distances, lengths, and heights, and other similar precision work that requires the juggling of numbers.…

New technologies are constantly being developed to make our lives easier, and this is no less true for electricians. Software applications can save electricians a lot of time and effort by providing easy to access, convenient tools that can help them make calculations; access needed information; enter invoicing and billing information; and a whole lot more.

Here are some of the top picks for electrician software that are currently available:

TurboBid

This is an estimating software that accommodates electrical work for residential, light commercial and industrial work, remodeling, and other construction projects. The great thing about this software is that it is flexible enough to allow for different types of work. So whether you are providing purely electrical work, or include other services such as plumbing and construction work, this is a great tool to generate estimates, integrating all the different services rendered in one convenient and user-friendly interface.

eToolsLite

eToolsLite is a handy mobile software that allows an electrician to check references for codes, converters, and other similar materials. An electrician can simply check his smartphone to verify that information he only vaguely remembers is correct, to make calculations, to convert values, and a whole lot of other tasks. Having it so handy is a big plus, especially if you are out in the field somewhere and need to check a specific provision of the NEC, or are unsure about a mathematical formula you barely remember.

Electrical Wiring Lite

This is a free app that can help you make calculations based on NEC provisions. One of the best things about it is that it is free!…